Human rights impact assessments in a Brazil land conflict: Towards a hybrid approach
"Human Rights Impact Assessments in a Brazil Land Conflict: Towards a Hybrid Approach," 19 June 2018
In recent years there has been a surge in both community- and company-led human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) thanks in part to the due diligence requirements of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Community-based HRIAs, by nature, analyse impacts from the perspective of a local community. Oxfam America has promoted a community-based HRIA methodology found in Rights & Democracy’s Getting It Right tool, an approach that emphasizes a community’s human rights concerns rather than starting from a company’s perspective
...Companies have also developed tools and processes to assess the potential impact of their projects; however, they often fail to seek out the expectations or assertions of the very people whose rights they may be adversely impacting. Common pitfalls of company-led HRIAs include heavy reliance on desk research or failure to extend interviews beyond government officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)…
This piece suggests that company and communities work together, when possible, in a hybrid approach to assess human rights in order to create a shared understanding of impacts, solutions and remedies…The Brazil land conflict provides a unique look at a community-based HRIA process that ran in parallel with two company-led HRIAs... [refers to: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Usine Trapiche]